diff --git a/ArduCopter/GCS_Mavlink.pde b/ArduCopter/GCS_Mavlink.pde
index 553163ecdb..fdde74009c 100644
--- a/ArduCopter/GCS_Mavlink.pde
+++ b/ArduCopter/GCS_Mavlink.pde
@@ -877,8 +877,8 @@ GCS_MAVLINK::update(void)
     status.packet_rx_drop_count = 0;
 
     // process received bytes
-    while(comm_get_available(chan))
-    {
+    uint16_t nbytes = comm_get_available(chan);
+    for (uint16_t i=0; i<nbytes; i++) {
         uint8_t c = comm_receive_ch(chan);
 
 #if CLI_ENABLED == ENABLED